Phoenix
by captainprocrastination
Summary: Sequel to 105th Hunger Games. It's time for the Third Rebellion.
1. One: Down with the Capitol

**Chapter One is HERE! I'm sorry it's been a long wait, I was stuck on ideas (still am, but I'll work though it) Hopefully you'll like the sequel as much as you liked the original...if you liked the original...anyway, enjoy, reviews would be nice...aaaand that's it. **

CHAPTER ONE

_The gold of the Cornucopia glints in the sun. I look around, but I'm alone. I'm standing right in the middle of the bare Cornucopia. There are 24 holes in the ground that circle me. A single spear lies by my feet. Suddenly there's a whir of energy and people start to rise from the holes. On impulse, I pick up the spear. The tributes all stand frozen on their metal plates. I survey them. Lana. Rowan. Lewis. Levi. Haley. All of the Careers, and as I turn around, I see all of the tributes from my Games. I scan past Zeph, to where I remember my plate was. I drop the spear as I see who stands there. Ethan. His hair catches the light, and shines gold like the Cornucopia. He seems confident. The gong sounds and I hastily pick up the spear, even though there are no weapons for the others to grab hold of. They all walk towards me and my hands shake. Suddenly my spear just dissolves in my hand. I'm surrounded, with no weapon. Zeph cracks his knuckles, and I remember he's capable of killing with his bare hands. I cower away from them all. I scream for Lewis and Ethan, but their faces are glazed, and show no recollection of who I am. It's Lewis himself who grabs hold of me to keep me still. Zeph's hands descend, and as his arms lock around my neck, Ethan bends down to look me in the face, his boyish face contorting into a smile that can only be described as evil._

"_There's worse to come Talia. The Games have only just begun."_

_I hear the crack that signals my death as my neck is broken._

I bolt up in bed, panting heavily. I realise that I am still alive, and in my bed. This is the same nightmare I've been having since the Games ended. I climb out of my bed and open my curtains. I'm in District 12 again, after a long Victory Tour. I'm not complaining, I got to dress up and dance with Lewis. But rest will be short on the ground. We've been recruiting for the rebellion. It seems so distant, and organised. I always expected a rebellion to be a _ka-pow _in the moment, everyone grabs something and attacks. Not this one, it's still a secret, but there's codes and things. Lewis and I are usually a diversion, everyone pays attention to us whilst my parents, Haymitch and even _Effie_ makes signals to search out those that are on our side.

Later today we're going to District 2, where our base will be. I find it weird that we're going to the Career tributes home to stage a rebellion, but apparently this makes it the least obvious place. The alarm I set last night beeps. I shower, get dressed and throw the last few things into my rucksack as well as I can in the dark light (it's about 2am in the morning, and still dark, and I don't risk turning a light seeing as no-one is meant to know we're leaving) I leave my room, to meet my parents and brother in our living room. Everyone is still bleary eyed, and slightly nervous. We're meeting the Hawthorne's, Effie and Haymitch at the train station. We all collect our things and leave the house. I wonder if I'll ever return to the little house in the Victor's Village that I grew up in, and now deserve to live in. It's a little way to the train station, and no-one speaks, so it seems even longer. Then I spot Lewis. The rest of them all fade away. He turns and sees me, and his face lights up like my heart does every time I see him. I smile, my dark mood and nightmare forgotten. He has that effect on me. He has that effect on everyone, he's the one who gets us all through the dark times, who is always there for me. I reach him, and give him a quick, chaste kiss, considering both our families are there. Not to mention Effie and Haymitch, who are polar opposites in their reactions, Effie overenthusiastic as always, and Haymitch always surly with a snarky comment ready.

The train is already there, an out of commission tribute train that runs itself. We all quickly board. Because of the speed, and because we're only going to District 2, the journey will only be a few hours. I take the opportunity to sprawl on the nearest sofa and catch up on my sleep. Thankfully the horrible nightmare doesn't come.

There's a prod in my side.

"Hey Tal. I love you and everything, but you're drooling. It's not attractive." A voice cuts into my sleep.

I open my eyes groggily to see Lewis looming over me, grinning. I can't help but grin back, his smile is infectious.

"I'm offended." I shoot at him.

"I'm just kidding. You're always drop dead gorgeous." He pretends to toss his hair back and flutter his eyelashes.

"Is that meant to be an impression of me?"

"Uh-huh."

"I do _not _do that."

"You do."

"Do not. And was that comment meant to be sarcastic?"

"Maybe." His tone is teasing. I flick his ear.

"_Ow! _Fine. It wasn't meant to be sarcastic. You know what I think about you, you read that letter. However, the violence has to stop, my extreme masculinity is really taking a knock being beaten up by my girlfriend."

"However your ego remains intact."

He winks. "You know me. I'm sexy and I know it."

I can't help but laugh.

"So, did you have a point to coming and waking me up?"

"Yes. We've arrived."

I get up off the sofa to look out the window. It's full of the elaborate stone buildings that District 2 are famous for. The train glides to a soundless stop. I grab Lewis' hand as we step onto the platform. A man dressed in black is leaning against the wall. Dad goes up to him, and shows him his watch. The watch is the rebel's symbol. It's a golden watch capped with a little golden dome that depicts an engraved phoenix. You click the cap off to reveal the watch itself. This was for the men, as they didn't think a necklace, which was my idea, was very manly. I have a necklace, which I always wear now, since I gave Mum back the mockingjay pin. It served me well in the Games, but it will belong to her, forever and always, She is the Mockingjay and I will not pretend to be her. The necklace I wear is similar to the mockingjay pin. Golden, but with a phoenix inside the golden circle, not a mockingjay. This is attached to a golden chain that hangs around my neck. The phoenix is the new symbol of the rebellion, as we rise from the ashes after being burnt down by the Capitol.

The man nods curtly, and signals for us to follow him. Eventually we stop in front of one of the many stone buildings. We're led inside. It's stony inside as well, but with beautiful wall hangings that give me the urge to paint. The adults walk off with the man who led us here, leaving me with Lewis and Ethan. Don't get me wrong, I love my brother, but situations like this are just awkward.

"I'll be going now." Ethan says, obviously having picked up on the awkwardness. He follows the adult's trail.

I'm still looking around in wonder, when Lewis hugs me from behind.

"It's lovely here." I say.

"Yeah. Home sweet home."

"What?"

"This was my house. I remember it. I used to live in this house before we moved to 12. I never thought I'd come back here."

I turn around to face him. "You have a beautiful home."

He smiles, then captures my lips with his.

"Well, well." A voice nearby purrs.

I let go of Lewis on impulse. I've gotten used to being interrupted by my family, Lewis' family, Effie, and worst of all, Haymitch. I turn to see who's caught us this time. I don't recognise them. It's a boy, a few years older than us, by the height of him. Lewis stiffens, and his hand clutches around mine.

The boy's eyes flicker to our clutched hands, and then lock onto me.

"It's true what they say. Everdeen women are incapable of being in relationships that don't cause rebellions." He drawls. I feel the urge to slap him, but considering he hasn't introduced himself yet, I fight it.

"Caleb." Lewis says. I look at him in shock. How does he know this boy's name?

"And here I was thinking you'd forgotten about me." The boy, apparently named Caleb, grins. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?"

Lewis swallows and then turns to me, his grip on my hand tightening.

"Talia, this is Caleb. My brother."

If I was holding my breath, I would have choked. I find my mouth drops open and I hopelessly look between them. Now he's said it, I can see the resemblance. Messy dark brown hair, although Caleb's is a few shades lighter, and his eyes are more a grey colour, with a green tint, opposed to Lewis's forest green eyes that I love so much. I look into them as I speak.

"You told me you were an only child."

"When you know my brother properly, you'll see why." His voice has a dark tone.

"You wound me with your words, brother." Caleb pretends to be hurt, his palm pressed to his forehead. I'm instantly reminded of Lewis' antics. I wonder if this is where he got it from.

Lewis mutters something that I can't comprehend. I stare at my feet whilst a few awkward seconds tick by. The silence is broken by a sharp sound of skin slapping together. I look up and realise Caleb has clapped.

"Shall I show you around? It's been a while for you, hasn't it Lew-Lew?"

_Lew-Lew._ I can't help myself. I laugh.

"Hey!" Lewis protests.

"Sorry."

We head upstairs.

"Talia, welcome to our humble abode." Caleb waves a hand around the corridor. "Let me show you to your rooms. Separate of course. Sorry bro." He punches Lewis playfully in the arm, but by the thumping noise his punch made, and the face Lewis made, I'd guess it was quite hard.

Caleb shows us each a room and gives a devilish grin as I close my door. I turn around and see that someone has stuck posters plastered with me and Lewis' face (mostly Lewis) all over the room. I notice that someone has also provided me with a 'Lewis Hawthorne Calendar' which Effie made him do for publicity (and I think he also quite enjoyed it, apparently they're selling like hotcakes in the Capitol) I leave my rucksack in the room, and leave to go exploring. I walk straight into someone, apparently about to open my door. I look up to find Caleb smirking at me.

"Do you like the decorations? I got a few funny looks buying that calendar. Especially it being my little brother."

"Very thoughtful. Now could you please get out of my way?"

He doesn't move. "Why so snappy?" His voice glitters with amusement.

"The first thing you said to me was an insult. I wouldn't say we got off to the best start."

He smiles. "I'm sorry. I support the rebellion wholeheartedly."

It shocks me slightly to hear him say it aloud. My face obviously displays this. He moves away from me and stands directly where the landing overlooks the stairs below.

"_Down with the Capitol!_" he bellows at maximum volume.

I half expect an army to burst in and arrest us both, but the house remains silent. He turns to me, looking smug.

"Well, would you like a guided tour?"

**Chapter 2 coming (hopefully) soon! Reviewing might make me go a little faster...sorry for having to resort to bribery...Hope you liked it! **


	2. Two: Maria

**Hello...I'm sorry it's been a long time. I had complete mind blank. I can't promise you updates to be regular, I'll fit them in when I have time, but I still appreciate reviews and all that brilliant stuff. Thanks for reading, I'll try to update as quick as I can, just for you.**

CHAPTER TWO

I follow Caleb as he shows me around the house. I had hoped that it would be Lewis to do this, but I think he's still in his room. We head into the basement, and I'm intrigued to see that there's a whole load of security stuff by the side of a metal door. Caleb rolls his sleeve up and presses the cap of the phoenix watch into a little score on one of the panels. A green light blinks on, and a screen lights up, displaying the words '_Caleb Harper. Confirm identity.' _I ponder silently why he doesn't have Hawthorne for a surname, when another panel slides out, which just is a shiny black colour. Caleb presses his thumb onto the panel, and lights under the panel turn on, silvery lights blink and there's a technical sounding whir. The panel slides back into the wall.

"Confirmed." A calm voice announces, "Caleb Harper."

The door slides open and he steps through. The door immediately closes before I can get in.

"Hey!" I yell.

The door slides open. Caleb shrugs.

"Sorry, you're not on the system yet, and the security stuff immediately shuts out anyone unauthorised. I had to let you in." He gestures to a box containing a keypad. The room I'm in now is split into two sections. One has a long table with chairs crammed into every space, and the other has a line of computers of screens on a desk, with swirly chairs pushed into it, opposite everyone computer. Caleb leads me down to the end of the room, where there's a door. He knocks once, but this is apparently completely a courtesy as he strolls inside straight afterwards. A figure is slumped behind a single desk, with a computer, even though giant screens dominate the walls. Caleb presses a finger to his lips and winks at me. I take this as a que to stay silent. He creeps up to the figure behind the desk and leans towards it. Then yells in its ear. The figure jolts and lets out a shrill squeak, it's hand smacks down on a button that turns all the screens on. There must be cameras somewhere in the room because the screens suddenly are fixed onto images of me, Caleb, and the figure. The figure is awake now, and I'm surprised. It's a girl, a few years older than me, with an amazing explosion of mahogany coloured curls. She glares at Caleb from her seat. Caleb, grins like the cat who got the cream. The girl looks at me curiously, then smiles. She rises from her seat and comes and hugs me. It's sudden, considering I don't know her, but I hug back because she seems nice. She releases me.

"You must be Talia."

I nod, a slightly confused expression on my face, as I see on the wall screens.

"Sorry about that hug, I watched your Games, and just wanted to comfort you, I really felt bad for you when Lewis died. And then came back to life. I can't believe he's related to this jerk." She jabs her thumb in Caleb's direction.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" I ask.

"Behold," announces Caleb, "Our head of technology, and computers, and all that crap."

"It's not crap." The girl snaps irritably, "If it weren't for all of this, we would have no idea what goes on in the Capitol, and then where would we be?"

Caleb shuts up, considering. I like this girl. She smiles at me.

"I'm Maria Trent. Head of technology and computers and all that _useful _stuff."

"Also, my girlfriend." Caleb adds.

Maria fixes him with a dagger glare.

"That was one time, and I was drunk. I hate you, let's not forget that, 'kay?"

"That was a clever joke."

"What?"

"'Kay? As in my name?"

Maria and I fix him with confused looks.

"Kay-leb?" he pronounces his name phonetically.

"I get it. It's just not funny." Maria says.

"Whatever. You love me really."

"I really don't."

Maria claps her hands together.

"So, what can I do for you?"

"We need to put her on the system." Caleb answers for me.

Maria goes back to her computer and starts rapidly typing. She gestures for me to come over.

She rummages for something in her desk, but comes out empty handed.

"Hold out your hand." She commands. I do so.

She reaches towards it, then I feel a sharp stab as she presses something into my palm and quickly retracts it. I look to see her holding a tiny syringe, now containing a little of my blood. She does some more difficult looking things on the computer with ease, getting my blood into a little dome that is connected to the computer. My necklace and fingerprint are also loaded onto the computer. She finishes with a flourish.

"Done!"

"You're really quick with that. I don't mean to pry, but how old are you? I thought people in District 2 worked with stone?" I ask.

"I'm eighteen, like Caleb. I'm originally from District 3, Electronics, where I learnt everything. But I moved here when I was sixteen."

"Why?"

"Because I was alone. My parents died when I was a little girl, and my brother was killed in the Hunger Games. I moved here because I knew people who lived here that I could stay with."

"I'm sorry." I say a little bit lamely. I never know what to say to people who have dead relatives, I feel a bit stupid saying sorry, because it's not as if I killed them. But what are you meant to say?

"S'ok. I'm lucky not to have been reaped."

I notice her cheek is now slightly tear stained, so I decide to leave it.

"I'm going to go and find Lewis. He must need to be put on the system as well."

"Ok. I'll see you around."

I walk towards the door. Then stop, I have to know the password, I turn to ask, and find Caleb standing there.

"Need some help?" he says, faux-innocently.

"Yes." I say, grudgingly.

He smirks as he leans past me to type in the code. The door slides open, and I don't expect him to follow me outside, but he does. I can't help my curiosity when a question falls from my lips.

"Why is your name Harper?"

"Excuse me?"

"The security things said your name was Caleb Harper. Why? You said you were Lewis' brother."

"That I am. Harper is my mum's maiden name and I prefer to go by that."

His eyes warn me that this is a touchy subject. I keep my mouth closed.

"So, how do you like District 2?"

"It's ok."

"So you mean, no? Well, you know what they say. Home is where the heart is."

"In a way. Home is with people you love. Not just a building. Home came with me, with Mum, with Dad, with Ethan, with Lewis. As long as we're all together, I'm happy."

"Admirable sentiment. Sadly, my family isn't exactly functional."

"What?"

"Well, most of them were in another district."

"Why did you stay here?"

"Like I said, my family isn't exactly functional. Maybe I'll tell you more when I've decided whether I like you or not. Or when we know each other. My brother will tell you things about me, I'm sure. Most might be true, maybe over exaggerated, but I'm not as bad a person as he'll say."

"You're a bad person then?"

"I like to say I am. It's fun playing the bad boy."

"But you're not?"

"I told you Talia. I'll tell you more about me when we know each other."

Damn him. Damn my curiosity.

"Now, go and find your boyfriend and go and see Maria again. I'm going down there now, so if you're not there with Lewis in five minutes, I'll know you're eating each other's faces."

"Must you put it in such crude terms?"

"Yes. Cutting, crude humour is a top weapon in my arsenal."

He spins on his heel and walks off again. _He is a very strange person_, I think, as I climb the stairs to find Lewis.

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	3. Three: You're Only Human

**Words cannot express how sorry I am that it's been such a long wait.**

**Enjoy...sorry, it's kind of a filler and a bit random.**

**Review? xx**

CHAPTER THREE

I pull open Lewis' door. He's busy unpacking his clothes and laying them neatly on his bed. He turns as I walk inside.

"Hey." He grins.

"Hi. I've got to come and get you. They want to load you onto the security system."

"Is that where you've been?"

"Yeah. Caleb showed me the way."

"So you're bonding then?" he forcibly places the shirt in his hands down.

I cross the room towards him.

"Don't worry. I'm not even sure if I like him at all, let alone the way that you're thinking."

He pulls an adorable puppy-dog face.

"You promise?" he pouts.

I wrap my arms around his neck and lean in.

"It's you. And it's always gonna be you."

He smiles. "I love you Tal."

"I love you too." I smile, and then kiss him, my hands roving upwards to tangle in his hair, pulling him closer. Kissing him makes me dizzy, my mind dissolves into nothing except thoughts of him. The gentle yet passionate way he holds me, the thud of our hearts pounding against each other, the way he always smells like pine needles. I could stay like that for hours and not notice.

"As much as I'm enjoying this," he murmurs against my lips, "Maybe we should go downstairs now before someone comes to check on us and sees us."

"Good point." I realise that he's basically carrying me, as my legs are wrapped around his waist. I jump down and release my grip. I stroll out of the room, trying to look unfazed by our kissing session. He leaves the room after me, and we hold hands all the way to the basement. I pull my phoenix necklace from the chain around my neck and press it into the grove on the wall, like Caleb had done earlier. The green light flashes on, along with my name on the screen. I press my thumb onto the panel that slides out.

"Confirmed. Talia Mellark." The voice says.

"I have to let you in from the inside." I tell Lewis, and the door slides open. I step inside and the door shuts. I remember that I need a code to get the door to come open again.

"Maria!" I call, hoping for her to still be in her office.

"Better." Is the reply. I turn to see Caleb sauntering towards me, he quirks an eyebrow. "Me." He keys in the code and the door slides open, letting Lewis in. Caleb's eyes flicker from his brother to me and back again a few times. He leans towards me, in a secretive gesture.

"If you're going to have private romantic moments, you might want to figure out ways to make it less obvious." He whispers.

"Who said anything about a romantic moment?" I challenge.

Caleb smirks. "Exhibit A," he says, indicating Lewis' hair, "Mussed up hair, obviously caused by feminine fingers." He wiggles his hand in front of his own face, "And as for the goofy, dreamy expressions you both have on, it's pretty obvious you haven't just been talking for ten minutes."

I have no argument to counter this. I settle on a glare, then taking Lewis into Maria's office. She greets him like an old friend whilst she loads him onto the system. I twiddle the phoenix charm on my necklace whilst waiting, also aware that Caleb just leans against the wall behind us, like he's going out of his way to make us uncomfortable.

"All done." Maria announces. "There's a meeting in 10 minutes if you want to stay down here for now."

"I'm pretty sure they have things they'd much rather do than sit down here." Caleb says, snark rolling off of every word.

"We'll stay. It's fine." My tone is prickly.

"Do you want some water?" Maria asks.

"Yes please. I'll come with you." I follow Maria out of the room, shooting Lewis an apologetic glance for leaving him with his brother.

We walk to the end of the meeting room, where a water cooler stands. She snags a plastic cup from the stack next to it.

"I take it that you're not a fan of Caleb?" Maria chuckles, pressing the button that pours water in the cup.

"It just seems like he's trying to make Lewis uncomfortable. He was ok when it was just me."

"Their family has their problems, which then reflects in the boys actions. They like to keep them quiet though, so I can't tell you."

"How comes you know then?" I retort, then apologise for how rude I sounded.

"It's ok. And as for how I know, it's amazing how much people are willing to tell you after a few too many drinks, and secrets told in exchange. Oh, and drunken kissing."

"Caleb told you?"

She gives me the now full cup, and starts filling another one.

"Yep. It was when I first moved here. I stayed with my penpal for a while, and of course I heard about Caleb Harper from her. We met properly at a party, and bonded over our family troubles. The only romance was that night, but we stayed friends, and I've been living here since then, seeing as my stupidly temperamental penpal kicked me out for kissing Caleb, because she liked him." I raise my eyebrows at that.

"I know. She was a bit strange. But she was a lovestruck teenager. You know what that's like."

She hands me the other now full cup, and we wander back to the office. The boys are in the same positions as we left them in, only they both stare pointedly at the floor. I slip into the desk. I take a sip of water.

"So," Caleb says, "When are you two going to get married?"

I practically spit the water out of my mouth.

"We're not getting married. I'm fifteen for God's sake." I say.

"And Lewis is nearly seventeen. In fact, he's seventeen at some point this week. Aren't you Lew-Lew?"

Lewis looks bewildered. "Yes. How did you-?"

"I'm your brother. Give me _some _credit." He steps forwards and swipes Maria's cup.

"Mind if I have some of this?" he asks, not waiting for an answer before taking a swig.

"It's fine. Go ahead." Maria says. As he takes another swig she tips the cup upwards, sending the rest of the water splashing onto his t-shirt.

He glares at her for a second, then a mischief glitters in his eyes and he peels his shirt off in one quick motion. Instinctively, I cover my eyes with my hand.

"Really Maria. If you want to see people shirtless, ask them. You can't just go around pouring water on them." I hear Caleb drawl.

"Well, _you _can't just go around stealing people's water. Put a shirt on."

"But it's all wet."

"Go and put a clean one on then."

"That's all the way upstairs."

"Well what do you want me to do then? Must you make everything so _difficult_?"

I hear a slap sound, and uncover my face to watch. Caleb has a hand casually placed against his cheek, now turning red. I have to catch myself from glancing at the now revealed skin of his torso.

"Talia. Don't stare. You'll only embarrass yourself. Then again, you're only human." He says.

I glare at him, and he grins.

"Please. You make yourself sound like a Greek god. How everyone _must _look at you." Lewis scoffs from behind me. I have to bite my tongue from saying something like, 'pot calling kettle' as I consider this as siding with Caleb, who is starting to annoy me.

"Whatever baby bro. At least I don't have to prove it to the world by posing for calendars."

"Hey! Effie made me do that for publicity!"

"Suuuure."

"I like the calendar!" I interject.

"_You_ would. _You're _his girlfriend."

"You know, you're really starting to get on my nerves."

"You know. I don't care."

I unzip my jacket and throw it at him.

"Cover yourself. The sight of your body is making me nauseous."

Maria hoots with laughter. She gives me a hand shake.

"Good one. I think we're going to get along great."

Caleb shrugs on the jacket. It is then that we realise the difference in size between us. His broad shoulders and taller frame, make the sleeves end up just below the crook of his elbow, and the jacket finishes on his waist. He leaves it unzipped, even though the whole point of the jacket (making me now cold in only a tank top) was so he could cover himself. I decide to not press the matter, he looks ridiculous now and it's making me laugh. The door then swings open, and a group of adults enter, including my parents, Effie and Haymitch, followed by Ethan. The majority are people in the same plain black clothing as Maria, all of them have the watch strapped to their non-writing hand. Most of them enter the conference room, and Maria enters the others (parents and co) into the system. Mum uses her pin as her access item, like me with my necklace. They then enter the conference room. Maria brings a laptop in with her. Caleb struts in, with my jacket on. He raises a few eyebrows, but no-one comments on it, leading me to believe that he is normally this stupid. Lewis and I hang around in the doorway. The door slides open again and a man with slicked back purposely silver hair enters. He has my brother in tow. He smiles at me, and his teeth gleam fake white. His eyes are a shocking violet. There is no doubt that he is a Capitol citizen. But he wears the watch of the rebels. I watch him go inside. Ethan stands with us in the doorway. Mum gestures for us to come inside. We cross the threshold and watch as the door slides down behind us after Ethan enters. A large screen appears in the middle, so we can see the entrance in case anyone comes inside. A man stands at the head of the table.

"Let the meeting commence."


	4. Four: Mind Control

**Hi. This is quite short, so apologies for that...and for the wait...but I've been really busy lately. Enjoy!**

CHAPTER FOUR

I'm prodded by Caleb, who informs me that the man standing there is the current Rebel Leader, Barrett Links. Known as Links to everyone. He stands in front of everyone, and I'm shocked at how old he is. He must be in his twenties, but in his eyes, he seems much older. They are the eyes of an old man, full of the things he has seen. Fear, regret, war, blood, love. I recognise him as the victor of the 100th Hunger Games. The centenary of the Games was celebrated by the most disturbing Games ever. It was set in a maze, and each tribute was locked inside an empty for the first week. Every hour, in each of the rooms, the tributes were faced with their worst fears, or projections of them. After a while they all started going mad, having been told in the projections that certain tributes were responsible. I recognise Links as the boy who kept being showed his family being tortured in front of him. His fury of anyone hurting his family, and killing to protect them struck a nerve inside me. I remember in my Games, when Artemis was threatening my family, that hatred caused me to kill her. In his Games, the battle was mostly psychological, as the tributes were set loose on each other, and the Games only lasted a couple of days. The first week was on the mental strength, not the physical type as the Games usually were.

"Welcome to our new members. We are honoured that you have finally joined us." He inclines his head politely. I smile in response.

"We have a lot to catch you up on. Recently, we've been trying to find out what the Capitol's secret weapons are. We figure that we must everything they can throw at us, so we can be equipped to fight it. Our most recent study is their ability to control the freewill of others."

"By forcing them to take part in the Games?" I ask.

"No. What we've been researching is mind control."

"Like what they did to me?" Dad asks.

"In a way," Links continues, "The method they used on you, by injecting tracker jacker venom into you, was to create hallucinations, and make you think differently. This is thought control, a very serious matter, but this new study is different. We're looking into them actually controlling the minds of people, making them do things that they wouldn't usually do, but making it seem like it's the individuals decision, and it's the right thing to do."

"How can you tell someone is being controlled?" Mum says.

"We have footage." Links signals to Maria, who starts to type on her laptop. The screen behind Links turns on. A scene from a Games is on the screen. I blink a couple of times and recognise it as _my_ Games. It's the time when Zeph and Apollo came to our camp and in the space of a few minutes, I killed two people, and Zeph killed Lana. Maria fast forwards to when Zeph drops Lana, after killing her, and him, an unconscious Lewis and I were left. She pauses and zooms in on Zeph's face. As the picture sharpens, Links begins to talk.

"This was after the petition made by your parents was passed. The one to keep you both alive. If the mind control techniques hadn't been in place, Zeph would have killed you both, there and then, rather than leaving, and not securing a victory. Look at his pupils."

He points at the now zoomed in image. I look at the pupils as instructed. They have vastly shrunk to the size of pinpricks.

"This is a clear sign that mind control is being used. But what we recently discovered, was that it has always been used. In every Games, the tributes receive the mind control drug, that allows the Capitol doctors, under supervision of the Gamemakers, to keep order. They can make the tributes kill or not kill and control everything."

"How?" I ask at the same time Mum asks "Why could I make the decisions I did?"

Links looks at me first. "The drug is given at the same time as the trackers." He then turns to Mum. "But it was during your Games that the Capitol discovered that some people were immune to the drug. That they still had their freewill. That's another reason why you caused such an uproar."

Maria presses something and the picture vanishes.

"So what are your plans to stop the mind control?" Mum asks.

Links sighs. "We're considering sending a small group to the Capitol to tamper with the drug production. We know from research that the Capitol doesn't have the formula written down due to supreme arrogance, so once the latest batch is made unusable, it should stop it all together. But we need to decide whether to do this because of the threat. There is an extremely high chance that this could go wrong, the group will be caught and killed, or our organisation is revealed to the Capitol."

"And if we succeed?" Mum asks.

"We get one step closer to our goal. Destroying the Capitol once and for all."

Everyone is silent.

"I say we do it." Caleb whispers.

Everyone turns to look at him.

"We're already facing being exposed to the Capitol. We're already disobeying and will be killed if anyone found out. Why is everyone getting scared about taking the next step? We have to make a move at some point. Otherwise we're not going to achieve anything." His eyes are steely, and he looks older and more composed, fearless even. Despite the fact he's wearing a too-small jacket.

"You have a point." The words fall from my mouth before I can stop them.

Murmurs flood around the room.

"We'll take a vote." Links says.

"Who votes we wait a while?"

A few people raise their hands.

"And who votes that we travel to the Capitol as quickly as possible?"

The rest of the room raise their hands, including Links himself.

"Then it's settled. We now need to decide on who will go."

The room falls quiet again.

**Let me know who you think should go, and what you thought in a review! And, even though I don't say it, **

**Thank you for reading, and for putting up with my looooong gaps between chapters, and the accidental spelling & grammar mistakes...xx**


	5. Five: Proving Myself

CHAPTER FIVE

"I'll go."

Caleb slaps his hand on the table as he speaks.

"This was my plan. I'll get it done."

Links nods.

"I have faith in you. You will lead the team."

He turns to the rest of us expectantly.

"I will go." A broad shouldered man says.

A few others echo him.

The fact that these people are so willing to lay down their lives for something that they believe in, when they could easily just let things happen and not do anything about it, inspires me. I want to be as brave as them. To prove myself.

"I'm in." I say. My voice is quiet, but strong.

I feel Lewis' hand, which is wrapped around mine clench in alarm. I turn to see his face. It is one of complete horror, it mirrors what is in my parent's eyes, although their expressions don't show it. Caleb's face is completely different, and he smiles approvingly at me. I return my gaze to my parents.

"Talia. Are you sure about this?" Mum asks, sounding concerned, but with a hint of pride.

I nod in response. "I want to help the cause in any way that I can."

Mum offers a hint of a smile in response, so I know that I've won her over. Partly because I know she had problems being not allowed to do things for her rebellion.

"But Tal, you could get hurt, or worse!" Dad counters.

I smile grimly at him, "Dad. I've been through the Hunger Games. Getting hurt is the least of my worries."

That part was true, but I avoided the other part of his argument. Deep down, I am still terrified of dying.

Lewis doesn't say anything. And he doesn't volunteer himself either. I feel guilty in expecting him to do so.

Links adjourns the meeting, keeping Caleb behind to discuss details. Everyone else leaves. I'm going up to my room when I'm tugged into a nearby alcove. I whirl around to find my boyfriend looking at me with concern. I'm about to explain myself when he places a finger lightly on my lips to stop me talking.

"I know that there is no way of talking you out of going to the Capitol. I don't want you to go, but I know that there is nothing I can do to stop you. All I can do is tell you that I love you more than anything else in my existence, and to be careful."

I nod, and he replaces his finger with his lips.

"Please, _please_ be careful." He murmurs.

"I will." I whisper.

"Dear God." A withering voice says. I know who it is without having to turn to see. "Do you two _ever_ give it a rest?"

Caleb stands in front of us, holding my jacket out towards me, an eyebrow quirked in amusement.

I snatch the jacket from his hands.

"You know, if we're going to be working together on this mission, you're going to have to not be so snappy towards me." He says, smirking.

"You know, if we're going to be working together on this mission, you're going to have to not be such an ass." I smirk back.

Lewis swings an arm around my shoulders. "That's my girl!"

I'm glaring at Caleb, and he's glaring back, but I squeeze Lewis' hand in a thank you gesture.

Caleb narrows his eyes at me, before snapping back into Jerk-Mode.

"As much as I'm enjoying the flirty banter, I have to go and start training for my mission."

I ignore the 'flirty banter' comment. "Good. If you're going to walk around the house half naked you should at least develop some more muscle tone."

Crap. The 'more' slipped out accidentally. Caleb notices.

"_More_? So you admit that you don't find the sight of me so repulsive?" He's so smug I think he might burst.

I'm stumped for a witty comeback so I roll my eyes and stick with a classic "Asshole."

I start to walk away, when he interrupts again.

"I'd train as well, if I were you. I hate for you to get injured under my leadership."

I look him in the eye for sarcasm, but find none.

"Goodbye Caleb."

I walk up the stairs, leaving the two brothers. Caleb's warning rings in my brain though. I haven't done any physical exercise since the Games. Maybe I should get a bit fitter before I go on a life-threatening mission. On that thought, I jog up the rest of the stairs to get to my bedroom. I close the door behind me. The posters that Caleb stuck up around my room make me jump, and it's disconcerting to have all the pairs of lush green eyes just staring at me. I stand on my tiptoes and take them all down, leaving them in a neat pile on the dresser. I leave the calendar up though. Not many girls have the privilege of having a calendar of their boyfriend unless they make one themselves.

I find myself sitting on my bed, now with nothing else to do. Then I'm lying down. Then I'm falling asleep. I'm jolted awake with pertinent rapping on my door. I open the door to find Maria, who tells me that dinner's on the table if I want it. My stomach rumbles in response, so I follow her to the dining room. I eat mindlessly, even though everyone else is mostly silent. Except for Effie, and the Capitol man I saw at the meeting earlier, who are discussing the dresses I wore on the Victory Tour. Their inane, high pitched chatter hurts my head. I excuse myself from the table and head back upstairs to bed, this time pulling on some pyjamas before crashing onto the mattress.

Unfortunately, because of my nap before dinner, I wake up in the early hours of the morning, and I just know I'm not going to be able to go back to sleep. I decide to go for a walk instead. I don't want to wake anyone up, so I head for the meeting room, to nose around. I get inside fine, using the phoenix necklace. I walk inside, and see I'm not the only one there.

"Caleb?"

He looks up from where he's sitting at a computer. Dark circles are forming under his eyes, and he's still in the same clothes as earlier (although he has located a t-shirt)

"What are you doing up?" he asks.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Me neither."

I have nothing better to do than talk to him, so I sit in the seat next to him.

"What are you doing?" I nod towards the screens. Complicated blueprints and lots of small letters.

"Planning the best route to the Capitol labs."

"Anything I can help with?" Although I hope the answer is no.

"That's alright. I've worked it out, and I'll have Maria talking to me through an earpiece."

I nod, before he goes into more detailed terms of the equipment used. Technology really isn't my thing.

"I really appreciate you coming by the way." He says.

"Really?" I raise my eyebrows.

"No, I'm serious. This is a dangerous mission, and it takes a lot of guts to face that. Bravery scores high in my book." He smiles, which turns into a yawn.

"Wow. You are much nicer when you're tired. Remind me only to speak to you at night now." I smile.

"You have a point. In daytime I would have made an innuendo filled joke about your last statement."

"At least we agree I'm right."

He laughs silently, a shrug of the shoulders with a smile crossing his face.

"Do you want to train with me tomorrow? Mission training is different to the fighting in the Games."

"How so?"

"Well, you'll have a gun for starters, no camouflage this time."

My turn to laugh. "Damn. I do like camouflage."

"I'll wake you up in a few hours then," he says when I yawn. "Am I keeping you up?" The sarcasm from earlier creeping into his tone.

"It's your conversational skills. So dull."

"Try not to fall asleep on your way up the stairs." He retorts, sounded quite childish.

"Goodnight."

"I think you mean, good morning."

"Whatever."

I fall asleep quick enough (once I was in my bed) and wonder to myself what using a gun will be like.


	6. Six: Training

**Hi...sorry it's been such a long time since the last update. I've been really busy, with my birthday, and I just finished a whole week of exams. But I've finished this chapter for you nevertheless! I've also got a new poll on my profile if you want to check it out. Reviews are amazing...*hint hint* but, ENJOY!**

CHAPTER SIX

"WAKEUPSLEEPINGBEAUTY!" a voice hollers a few inches from my face.

My eyes fling open, and jolt upright, my head hitting something hard. I swear colourfully in pain. I swing my legs out of bed, one hand pressed against my forehead and see Caleb, a red mark forming on his forehead, sitting on my bedroom floor, grinning.

"Good morning," he says, "I didn't know you had such a bad mouth. I'm impressed."

"What time is it?" I groan. I feel like death, but he looks wide awake and is already dressed.

"Half past seven."

I drop my hand to my lap and collapse back onto my bed.

"You can't seriously expect me to start running around _now_," I moan.

"Meet me in the gym in half an hour," he grins again, and strolls out of my room.

I have half an hour. Plenty of time for a quick snooze.

An icy shock wakes me a second. I gasp as water is splashed over me. I glare reproachfully at Caleb, who is standing next to my bed holding an empty glass.

"It's been an hour," he looks bored now. "Get up."

I cover my face with my blanket. "No," I grunt.

Then the blanket is torn off of me, and I'm hoisted out of bed and flung over Caleb's shoulder. I hammer on his back in frustration.

"Now, will you get dressed and come down to the gym, or do I need to carry you there now and make you work out in your pyjamas?"

I puff hair out of my face. "I'll get dressed."

He plants me on the floor, smirking. "You're going to need to learn to follow orders if you're in my squad, or I'll kick you out."

I mockingly tap two fingers to my temple quickly, as he leaves. "Yes, Captain Harper, sir."

The word Captain brings back sore memories of Rowan. I shake them away, and start to tug out some clothes from my rucksack. I was advised not to unpack properly, just in case we have to leave quickly. I throw on a black tank top and some khaki trousers, paired with some boots. I brush into a quick high ponytail and head for the gym. I swing open the tall door. The space is large, and for the most part empty, apart from a few targets lined up against a wall, and a large container near the door, which Caleb is standing next to, holding two guns . He looks up, and smiles.

"So you finally showed up, huh?"

"Clearly." I eye the gun warily, knowing that I'll have to shoot soon.

He walks up to me, and holds his hands out.

"Admiring my guns?"

"Something like that," I say, as he presses one of the guns into my hand. The handle is smooth and only slightly warm where he's been holding it. He leads me over to the targets.

"The most important thing to keep in mind about guns, is aim. Like archery," he raises his gun and aligns it in accordance with the target. He presses the trigger, and a bullet flies out, and hits the centre of the target. I raise my gun. It's not like archery, this is going to take some practise. I fire. The bullet strikes the target, but only just. It lands right on the top edge. I move my arm to the left and fire. Only a slight improvement. I try again, but moving to the right this time. Still nothing remarkable. I realise that I am a very impatient person, and that I'm irritated that I cannot do something.

"You're aiming too high," he says, as he gently pushes my arm a few centimetres down, "Try it now."

I fire once again. The bullet nestles a lot further down into the target. I smile.

"Thank you," I say.

"Pleasure. Now try again. I want you to hit the centre, then we'll try shooting on the run."

I focus and shoot again. Altogether, it takes a few hours before I can sprint around on the run and perfectly hit the target, but it's worth it, as now I have it mastered. Still, I miss my spears. My leg muscles suddenly ache from being used again, after so long of not doing any exercise. Caleb notices me rub my calf and makes me jog a few laps of the gym. He sits against the wall watching me, grinning.

"Sadist!" I yell as I pass him on my third lap.

I run five in total, and then give up. I sit against the wall next to Caleb.

"Good enough?"

"It will do. I'm going to go and get you some water, you have a break, then we'll do something else," he gets up and leaves. I take the opportunity to nose around. I first rummage through the large container of weapons. I accidentally slice my finger on a knife, and hiss in pain. I am more careful in my next search. At the very bottom of the container, lies a lone spear. I quickly tug it out. It's relatively old looking, like it hasn't been used for a while, covered with a thin layer of dust. I toss it from hand to hand, getting a feel for it. Then I raise it, preparing to throw. I gather all my power, and force it forwards. It hurtles from my grip and stabs into the centre of the target. I grin.

"Impressive," I turn to see Caleb returning, holding a bottle of water out towards me. I accept the bottle.

"Thank you," I reply, and take a sip.

"That was my spear, by the way. I used to come down here everyday to practise for the Hunger Games."

I raise an eyebrow questioningly as he pulls the spear off of the target.

"District 2. I'd be a Career, remember?"

"How comes you never volunteered then? I thought Careers were all about bringing glory to their district."

"I didn't buy into that glory crap. I didn't want to die. It was awful when Ava died last year. We used to train together all the time. I gotta tell you, having my brother and my cousin in the same Games was a really bad experience. I knew one way or another I'd lose some family."

"Losing people sucks."

"You got that right."

There's an awkward silence. I take a long sip of water.

"So, what did you want to do next?" I ask.

He smiles. "I want to show you something."

He firmly pushes the target, and it swings open, like a door. I see lights flicker on inside. I stand next to Caleb and look at what's inside.

"It's a dummy," I say.

"Not just a dummy. One of our tech's has been playing around with robotics and he's programmed it to behave how a real human would in a fight."

He walks into the room and carries the dummy out. He places the spear back in my hand.

"What do I do?" I ask, bewildered.

"Defeat it," he says, as he flicks on a switch on the back of the dummy's head. It whirs to life, and swiftly delivers a right hook that hits me in the stomach. I fall to the floor in shock. Then I narrow my eyes, and get a firm grip on the spear. I push it forwards to impale the dummy, but it grabs hold of the spear and sends it, and me still holding onto it, flying across the room.

"Real humans are this strong, huh?" I yell to Caleb.

"Focus!" he yells back. I don't have time to argue. The dummy is advancing on me. It's disturbing to see a crash test dummy move like a human. I clench a fist and slam a punch into the dummy's sternum. It doubles over, lowering itself, so I spin myself around and deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to its face. The dummy loses its balance and trips. Caleb whoops. I rush over to where the dummy is. It flails on the floor, the mechanics inside of it not able to push it to its feet again. Caleb flicks the switch off, and drags it back into the cupboard. I quickly guzzle some more water. My throat is burning and my skin is covered with sweat.

"Do you want to stop for the day?" Caleb asks.

I nod.

"You did well."

"Wow. No sarcasm."

"The same cannot be said for you."

I smile. "When do we leave for the Capitol?"

"2 days. Another day of training tomorrow, then we'll be getting everything ready."

"Do you have a plan?"

"I'm working on one."

"Well, I guess I'll see you at dinner," I say, starting to walk out of the room.

"Talia," he calls after me.

I turn around. "Yes?"

"You can keep my spear if you want. I'm never going to use it and you left yours in District 12."

He tosses it to me, and I catch it in my left hand. "Thanks." Then I leave.

**Sorry. Mostly just a filler chapter, but I hoped you liked it anyway!**


	7. Author Note: Thank You

Hello? *hides behind hands*

...

I'm really sorry that I haven't updated for ages, I've had exams and schoolwork, and even more coming.

I'm even sorrier that I've decided to stop writing Phoenix. It's the summer now, but thinking over where I wanted the story to go, and how much I'd have to write, and how long that would take me, I can't continue. It would go straight into the term time, and I really have to focus and work. I'm very sorry. I wouldn't be able to write chapters as well as I'd like, seeing as writers block has taken over, and my brain has started thinking of new stories.

Maybe at some point I'll continue, but it won't be for a while. So, I'll end it for now, and thank everyone who read 105th Hunger Games and the start of Phoenix. I can't thank you all enough. The reviewers especially, I will now thank them individually, as they made me deliriously happy everytime I got an email from Fanfiction.

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Thank you all. All readers, reviewers, alert-ers, favourite-ers...I'm aware these aren't all words.

I'm very sorry that I'm not carrying on. Bye for now,

TheGirlWithGlasses15

xxx


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